


One to grow on

by canadino



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:00:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26987119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canadino/pseuds/canadino
Summary: You may have a little kiss on your birthday, as a treat.
Relationships: Nanao Taichi/Rurikawa Yuki
Comments: 1
Kudos: 48





	One to grow on

Yuki liked to keep his private life private. Firstly, it was in the name. But more importantly, while some people found it easier to connect to others by sharing their personal sides, he’d found it to be quite the opposite when he was younger. He was mature enough to admit he might have gotten a bit of a complex because of it. He knew some people at school thought that he was cold and hard to get to know - but Yuki felt it was that much more meaningful when someone decided to bring out the treasure box and open it in front of someone else for the first time. He could handle gossip and put-off reactions, because the people who stuck around were worth it. 

Of course, some people who stuck around were also stupid. It was one thing to be standoffish and another thing to be outright prickly. On his best days, Yuki thought that the opposite of love was apathy, so if he really didn’t care for someone, he wouldn’t even bother treating them any which way. And it wasn’t like he was cruel; he knew where people’s boundaries were and he was careful to watch for them. Taichi’s boundaries seemed totally receded - he stuck around despite tongue lashings about sloppy hemlines and smiled despite Yuki’s lack of interest in his talk of romance and courtship. He carried heavy yards of fabric without complaint and showed up if Yuki summoned him for last minute help. Too much praise gave people a puffed head, so Yuki was sparing with any compliment, but somehow Taichi still confessed to him anyway. Taichi - who preferred staple foods and didn’t get dry sarcasm - said I really like you, please date me with the same firmness he had when he delivered lines on stage. 

Today was Taichi’s birthday. It was also a week out from Winter Troupe’s latest show, and their coats had to be mended after an accident on stage tore through Tsumugi, Hisoka, and Guy’s costumes on the way down. Without being told, Taichi appeared in Yuki’s room after a morning spent in a ruckus with Autumn Troupe. He had to leave early, because his baby siblings wanted to throw him a party at home, but otherwise Taichi was committed to finishing the repairs on Hisoka’s outfit. 

“Happy birthday,” Yuki said. It wouldn’t be unlike Taichi to completely forget the day. He waited for the dawn of realization and remembrance that Taichi had other things he would like to do more on his birthday than sit on the floor and hand sew. Taichi beamed back at him. It was as if Yuki had personally moved the planet to make it the anniversary of his birth. Yuki cleared his throat. “And...well, you usually get things you want on your birthday, right?”

“Right…” Taichi said. He was starting to frown, sensing a riddle coming on. “But...you gave me that amazing embroidered Akapoyo patch for my hat earlier...unless? You have another one?” He lit up again. 

“I don’t have time to make that many patches, stupid dog.” Taichi shrugged it off. “Hmph. I mean. I’ll...listen to what you have to say. If you want me to...do anything for today, I’ll...consider it.”

“Oh. Oh?” Taichi was slow on the uptake. Yuki didn’t know why he thought one year would make a difference. “Huh. Um...okay…” Taichi was getting shy, and it was starting to make Yuki’s heart race. Maybe he had been too bold. “Er...hehe, don’t laugh but...just for today, I want to hear you say my name - my real name - without the honorific…” 

“Oh. That’s...I can do that. Taichi.” Taichi laughed to himself, turning back to the sleeve in his hand with satisfaction. “Is that...it?” When Taichi looked up again blankly, Yuki crossed his arms. “You just want me to call you by your name? That’s all?”

“What...what else is there?” Taichi asked nervously. 

“I said something...like...things we-you don’t do often.” It was so embarrassing when he thought about it, as if he were Azami or worse - if it sounded like he really wanted to do things. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to. Asking kind of felt desperate though, and Taichi was always so careful to follow his lead above all else. “Holding hands, for example.” Yuki tried to put more volume in his voice, but it was starting to trickle away. 

“Oh!” Taichi fumbled the needle. “Uh! Okay...can I hold your hand?” 

“If you want to.” The contempt wasn’t there and he wasn’t fooling anyone. Taichi, still approaching cautiously as if it had been a trick question, carefully took his hand. Taichi’s hand was warm and dry against his, which was a little clammy. When it was clear he wasn’t about to pull away and start teasing him, Taichi squeezed his hand. 

Purposefully looking at anything else in the room that wasn’t their conjoined hands or Taichi, Yuki pressed his lips together. “Anything else?”

“This is pretty great,” Taichi said. “What else is there?”

“You...you know.” Taichi didn’t know, apparently. He was sitting next to him waiting, cocking his head curiously. “Things couples do...like...kiss. They kiss each other for their birthdays as a treat. Didn’t you read anything like that in your dumb magazines?”

“Ooh. Yeah, I guess they do! Can I kiss you?”

“It’s your birthday,” Yuki grumbled. Taichi kissed sloppily, more excitable than particularly skillful - but, well, it wasn’t like Yuki was the world’s best kisser either. Taichi had gathered him up in his arms like the gifts that the others had given him, but more precious. There wasn’t anywhere else he could comfortably put his arms other than around Taichi’s neck. Sensing Yuki tense at his initial kiss, Taichi kissed him again, more gently. 

“If you ever want to do this when it’s not our birthdays, that’s cool too,” Taichi said. His eyes were shining. “I like treats! And, um, I like giving treats too!” Yuki felt like reminding him that this was part of the birthday package, because it was a special day. But as Taichi kissed him again, Yuki thought he really wasn’t fooling anybody.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't think I'll ever publish fic at a reasonable time outside of late, late night hours because that's just when I usually end up writing/finishing them. Here's some little TaiYuki for Taichi's birthday, super sweet because this ship gives me cavities. 
> 
> I was trying to remember what from childhood was given on birthdays with an extra one for the new year, and it was spanks. That isn't happening in my pure Taiyuki fic...I can't remember if I've actually seen a birthday spank, because my parents didn't spank and I feel like it wouldn't be right to do it at school or at someone's house in front of other people...but I know it happened. Maybe I just read it somewhere...I think it's in the first Little House on the Prairie books? Anyway, Taichi gets no spanks, only kisses.


End file.
